Holiday Dinner à la Julienne

Is cooking not your thing? Would you rather be gift shopping than thumbing through cookbooks and braving the grocery store? Rather be relaxed, laughing, and chatting with a cocktail in hand than cringing and frantic as the green beans get cold, the mash potatoes gluey, and the filet is a 20 minutes away from barely registering as rare?

One way to beat the homemade holiday feast is to have someone else concoct the menu and conjure the victuals. We recently stopped in to Julienne’s Gourmet Market for a quick treat to appease our Thanksgiving-expanded waistline and got chatting with proprietor Julie Campoy. She turned us on to their “Christmas Menu 2012.”

Over the years, Julie has heard countless suggestions, ideas, fancies, and hankerings. She’s taken them all under consideration and has now compiled complete dinners. No thought is needed about what goes with what, which constitutes the majority of the stress when planning a holiday dinner (and some of us just aren’t that good at it).

Julie also understands that some people may want only this or only that, so items can be purchased à la carte as well. Other Julienne temptations include (but are not confined to) crab chowder, mushroom walnut patè, fresh cranberry brown butter tarts, and chocolate pots de crème.

And, for the first time in Julienne’s 27 year history, the market shall be open on a Sunday. In the lead up to Christmas, Julienne will be open Saturday, December 22nd, Sunday, December 23rd, and Monday, the 24th.